Aftermath

The darkness slowly began to give out to light as Cinder's eyes fluttered open.

Where was he? Utopia? Then I want a wet dream!

Hold up!

He looked around him, but then realized where he was with a brief look. He wasn't in the caverns anymore. He was gazing up at a pure, white ceiling with an overhead light. The room was very bright and comfortably lit all around. Nothing like the dim, darkness of the caverns of Mt. Moon.

Looking off to his side, he saw a window at the end of the room. Raindrops rolled down the glass.

What had happened?

The memories.

They all came rushing to the surface at once, against his will. The Rockets that had chased him and Korrina throughout the mountain, Hercule's evolution, the cave in-

Cinder suddenly jolted upwards in his bed as panic filled his mind.

What had happened to them?! Where were they?! Where-

He felt something brush against his arm, and turned to see Hercule at his side, Fafnir slightly behind the newly evolved Poliwhirl.

Hercule was looking at him with relief, as though a great deal of stress had been lifted off of his chest. Looking over at Fafnir, his face seemed very troubled. Shaken.

Cinder couldn't let the relief flow through him for too long, however.

Fafnir and Hercule were okay, but where was Korrina? And what about their other pokemon? And-

"Good, you're awake." Cinder, Hercule, and Fadnir turned to see Nurse Joy entering the room. "Your friend Korrina woke up a little while ago. She's speaking to Karen and Officer Jenny right now."

Cinder nodded. He was slightly less panicked now.

"Is all of my stuff intact?" He asked nervously. "I had a couple teammates still in their pokeballs."

"They're all fine." She quickly informed him with a raised hand. Her face was neutral, but her tone of voice carried its signature, soothing vibe. "Your Flaaffy and Starly are recovering from their injuries. Korrina says that they got knocked out by a Scizor. You were teleported out of the cave before any of the rocks could injure you severely."

Cinder finally allowed the sense of relief to overcome him as Nurse Joy filled him in.

According to her, he and Korrina had passed out from a panic attack when the cave in started. That Hunter J woman had caused the entire cavern to collapse so that she could teleport away in the chaos while Karen and the League were preoccupied. Karen and her elite team had managed to teleport all of them to safety, but apparently several Rockets had already been discovered in the rubble. Not all of them had been able to escape.

Right now, they were at the Pokemon Center in between Mt. Moon and Cerulean City. He had been out for about three hours now.

What still made him feel stressed was Nurse Joy revealing that most of the trainers that had been held hostage by the Rockets were still unaccounted for. No confirmed deaths or serious injuries, thankfully, as the cave in hadn't reached them, but it also made it more difficult for the League to get to them. The elite members of the League were currently in the middle of rescuing and retrieving them, while keeping an eye out for any remaining Rockets. Karen was planning to join them soon.

Team Rocket's reason for taking over the mountain was to steal the moonstone. Cinder had heard of it before. It was said to be the origin of the Evolutionary Stone of the same name, and was also fabled in legend to be made of magical, and one of a kind material that could power up pokemon. Team Rocket's plan was probably to try and harness the power of the legendary rock, and potentially sell it on the black market to make money off of the material if the rumors turned out to be false.

The terrorists had apparently gained access to what was supposed to be secret information regarding the mountain's layout, taking what they thought was the quickest path to the moonstone. Nobody had any idea how they had gotten ahold of such vital info, but thankfully, there was even more advanced information that they didn't have access to. Additional secret paths that only people of Karen's rank even knew existed. The League's forces had made use of this info to reach the moonstone before the Rockets could, although the squad that had been sent to steal the legendary rock had apparently retreated after Hunter J did.

Now it was the League's turn to place the mountain under lockdown, and Karen's squad hadn't been the only one to pursue the Rockets, either. Apparently Bruno had led a team of his own on the other entrance to the caverns, accompanied by the gym leader, Brock. The entire mountain had been placed under siege to trap the Rockets in, forcing them to teleport away. But since only a select few of them had the means to do so, the majority were sitting ducks.

"Do you have any other questions, Mr. Lark?" Nurse Joy's voice was gentle and sincere.

Cinder gave her a grateful smile, trying to mask his frustrations but not quite succeeding, and shook his head.

"Sorry, but I'm fine for now. Thank you."

She still seemed to be concerned, but gave him a kind smile nonetheless.

"I'm glad. I'll go tell them you're awake. Korrina wasn't happy about having to leave you while you were still unconscious. Your Poliwhirl needed to persuade her."

Cinder gave Poliwhirl a curious glance, and simply received a shrug in response. He patted the Poliwhirl's head in thanks as Nurse Joy exited the room.

"Thanks for everything you did today, pal." He did his best to put on a kind smile as he looked between his two friends. Hercule was now a decent deal taller than Fafnir, standing at about a foot taller than he previously had been as a Poliwag. "You saved us with the move combination you, and Starly successfully initiated, well done."

Hercule brushed against the Cinder's arm a bit at that, blushing.

Cinder flinched suddenly as the image of Alpha nearly getting pulverized by Gabite's Dragon Pulse entered his mind. And his face paled as he remembered the image of that Salamence…

He felt Hercule brushing against his arm again, and even Fafnir made a gesture of her own, lightly licking at his skin. He offered them a grateful smile.

They weren't at Mt. Moon anymore. And Cinder didn't plan on going back anytime soon. He'd take the Viridian Forest over that any day.

"Congratulations on evolving, Hercule." Cinder attempted to ease himself further by bringing up something good. "I'll bet you're a lot stronger, now, but you're probably hungry, right?"

Hercule pointed to a desk besides the bed. An empty bag of pokemon food was sitting there. So Nurse Joy had already fed him.

Now doubt the evolution had upped his appetite considerably for the moment. He'd have to feed Hercule extra food for a while, just like how it had been with Storm.

Not to mention the food that they would need for Fafnir, he was about nearing on his development phase, then he could begin training the dragon. Knowing that Hunter J's monstrous Salamence and his newborn Gible were heralding the same notoriety of species, he couldn't help but have expectations within.

"Cinder?!" The door flung open, and the trio turned to see Korrina bolting into the room. She appeared unscathed, to his relief, and her face lit up upon seeing him awake.

"Hey, Korrina." He raised a hand to wave to her, hoping to quell any remaining concerns that his new friend might have. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Whew, likewise, I was really worried for you." She took a seat next to his bed. "Karen just got done questioning me when Nurse Joy told us you were awake. You sure you're okay?" Her face was a frown now.

Cinder smiled at her. "Korrina, I'm fine, really." Her concern was rather touching. Knowing Blue, he probably would have been disappointed that Salamence hadn't devoured him.

The two friends turned their heads to the door as it opened again, and Cinder gawked at the figure that entered the room.

It was Karen.

"Hey, kiddo. Good to see you're alright. Had to borrow your friend for a moment."

Cindee felt the largest gulp of his life in his throat as his face suddenly grew hot. Bruno was an Elite Four, alright. But, is he a woman? No? Heh, thought so, Cinder was at the peak of puberty, seeing such a woman as Karen was a feist for the eyes.

The Karen was right in front of him. This was one of the five people that he had practically worshipped as everything that he ever wanted to be. She was the third strongest Trainer across Indigo's entire League. One of the pokemon world's most famous prodigies. Not to mention her figure wasn't exactly bad…

"Karen of the Elite Four…" He murmured out in awe, but he wasn't nervous or anything, he already stood and met Bruno personally after all, and ironically, it was the same cause, Team Rocket. Hercule and Fafnir looked at him with mild concern while Korrina just snorted. Although, there was a little bit of jealousy in the blond-haired girl's eyes.

Brushing a strand of silvery-blue hair aside, the young woman smiled cheekily at Cinder's expression. "Settle down there, rookie. I could do without the formalities. The old hag's always trying to shove them down my throat. Your name is Cinder, wasn't it?"

Old hag? Was she talking about Agatha?

Positioning himself to a non-disrespectful posture, he nodded. "Yeah. That's me."

Karen nodded. Her expression was fairly friendly. Although it completely clashed with the aura radiating off of her…

"Nurse Joy said she filled you in on anything while I was talking to your friend here." She glanced at Korrina. "I was going to check on you anyway before I left. Sorry about… Well, everything, really." Her face was apologetic and sincere. "It… wasn't because of you." Cindee was starting to find it a majorly easier to talk. Although, the heat in his face hadn't fully died down yet.

"I know it wasn't." The woman responded. "But you rookies shouldn't have to go through crap like this. Team Rocket has been surprisingly active this Season, but this was definitely one of their more large scale operations. I never thought they'd try to seize an entire mountain like that." Her face suddenly darkened, losing some of its elegance. "And I definitely didn't expect them to have hired that piece of human filth into their ranks."

She was talking about the notorious woman that had led the raid, Cinder quickly realized.

"You… know a lot about her?" Cinder asked uneasily.

"Never met the bitch until today." She admitted, nonchalantly despite the spite in her tone. "But you can't be someone of my position and not have heard of such a high profile criminal. We receive updated lists of the most wanted people out there fairly frequently. And out of all of the Pokemon Hunters specifically, she's currently first to the top."

Cinder winced at that.

So this day really had been a close call. She was that serious then?

"She escaped, I guess?" He asked a bit giddy.

"Yeah." Said Korrina with a frown, she knew more than him as she got the update of the situation much faster than him since she woke up earlier. Suddenly, her face was dark as well. "Karen told me everything. Apparently that woman caused the entire cave in just so she could flee while we were all distracted. She didn't even care whether or not her own men were able to make it out with her. And all of those Pokemon over theirs were still scattered across the room after our fight. She just left them all to die there, when they weren't even awake to even try and escape."

A sense of disgust suddenly surged through Cindee's stomach. Someone like that who held their own 'comrades' in so little value certainly wouldn't be the type to lose any amount of sleep over killing anyone else. He almost pitied the rest of the Rockets for being stuck under the command of such a woman.

The Rockets had tried to kill him, Korrina, and their friends. Many would say that they had gotten their own due karma, killed and backstabbed by their own superior in the middle of a full blown operation the very moment that things got tough for them. But even thinking along those lines disgusted Cinder.

What about the Pokemon? They could very easily range from taking after their own trainers, to just being loyal and following orders.

Cinder felt his head start to hurt. He held no pity towards the criminals, but he held sorrow for the pokemon who met their demise, maybe even griefing for the unfairness in the distortion plane.

"You alright?" He heard Korrina ask him gently. Turning to her, her expression was fairly soft. Still not what he was used to from her more usual behavior.

Cinder tried to smile reassuringly. "Sorry, zoned out for a moment."

"You do that a lot." Korrina pointed out. She sounded more sympathetic than exasperated.

"It's understandable." The two turned their attention to Karen again. "I recommend that you two take it easy for a couple of days. Cerulean City is a day or less away from here if you walk, so it won't be a long trip, but you really should get everything together before you get back on the road." Her expression darkened again for a moment. "And don't worry about that damned Hunter. She's just added another territory on her list of places where she's wanted. Now that we know that she's here, the Indigo League's entire government is coming down on her."

"Good." Cinder's tone of voice was fierce, and Korrina felt a few chills going down her spine as she took note of his aggressive expression. "Throw her in a cell for all I care. Or a coffin. Whichever one's more convenient for you."

"Easy there, kiddo." Karen's expression softened. "I get that you're angry, but you shouldn't have to be the one to think such things." She looked between the two kids, along with Hercule and Fafnir. "Your journeys are supposed to be an experience you'll never forget. Memories that will be carried with you forever. I'm sorry Team Rocket has tainted those memories today." She sighed. "The best advice that I can give is to stay as far away from them as possible. And do everything that you can to notify the authorities if they ever do strike. I know today, that wasn't possible for you, but just advice for the future. For now, just get some rest, and once you're situated, try to focus on making memories that are worth remembering. I'll do everything in my power to ensure that those who try to ruin those memories won't get away with it."

Cinder looked at the Elite Four member in a serious look, the red tint on his cheek disappearing.

'She's just as amazing as Bruno was in personal.' He thought to himself. 'I'll bet the others are, too.'

He agreed with her too. Not only would staying here a couple of days or so give them time to recuperate, but Hercule will have a chance to break in his evolution. Maybe he could begin training Fafnir, along with the rest of his pokemon while their at it.

Karen nodded at him. "Cinder, the Officer Jennys and I have already spoken to Korrina, so we won't have to pull you away. You two just hang tight. I gotta get back to the mountain and get to work. See you around." She flashed them a smile, before bidding farewell with a casual wave. "For the record, you were fairly impressive to hold out for as long as you did. Keep on growing stronger, okay?"

"Thanks for helping us!" Cinder quickly called out as the door closed behind her. He thought for a moment before saying. "I will repay Team Rocket for what they did, not just to us, but for the trainers that they had implicated because of their cause."

Korrina and Karen were startled, gazing at the black eyes of Cinder that was slowly becoming much darker of a shade, Karen was worried, she knew that this experience was something a rookie like him shouldn't had gone through, nevertheless, the result of overcoming this trial as a trainer would either become a good or unfortunate transformation for said rookie, they could only see in the near future. She nodded simply and left.

Korrina sighed as she turned back to the gray-haired teenager. "Well, that's one way to meet one of the greatest trainers in the world."

"Yeah…" Cinde trailed off absentmindedly as he continued to stare at the door.

He had actually met Karen… The circumstances were awful but… he had actually spoken to her face to face. Not only that, he had also spoken to Bruno too. Should he tell his mother about this? Wait, but then she'd know about the Rockets. Should he change the story or-

"You're spacing out again, aren't you?" He jolted in the hospital bed at Korrina's deadpan declaration.

"Sorry about that!" His face felt like it was on fire. Hearing a couple of giggles off to his side, he frowned in defeat as he saw Hercule and Fafnir gazing up at him in amusement.

Korrina rolled her eyes in mild annoyance, but offered a friendly grin to her new friend. "Whatever, I'll give you a pass for now." She rose from her seat. "Anyway, you still tired? Nurse Joy said she'll register a room for us when we're ready."

Cinder slowly made his way out of the hospital bed, but felt a light rumbling in his stomach.

"Actually…" He started as Hercule and Fafnir both made their way behind him. "I think I could go for something to eat. What time is it?"

"Early evening." Said Korrina thoughtfully.

His smile returned, Cinder declared. "Alright, cafeteria it is, then. Let's get going." He gestured towards the door as he made his way out of the room, Korrina, Heecule, and Fafnir in tow.

Yes… some food would do all of them quite well, right now.

*Top 45 (1/2), early release. Don't forget to leave a review or stone.*